Suriname to convert airline subsidies into repayable loans

Suriname's finance minister, Adelien Wijnerman, said the government intends to restructure the roughly two million dollars it provides Surinam Airways each month, converting the support into a formal loan agreement rather than an outright subsidy.

Speaking at a press conference, Wijnerman said officials would soon meet with airline representatives to negotiate the size of the loan and incorporate it into a contract. She added that the finance ministry also wants to retroactively classify past subsidy payments as debt where possible.

Surinam Airways, which has been government-owned for decades, has struggled financially for years and relies heavily on state support to continue operating. According to the report, the carrier has accumulated about 100 million dollars in debt since 2020. Additional costs arose last year after the airline reportedly misapplied portions of its payroll, adding further millions to its liabilities.

The airline traces its roots to a company founded in the early 1950s, before Suriname's independence from the Netherlands in 1975, and was renamed Surinam Airways in 1962. The state has held a stake in the carrier since then.

No details were given on the exact size of the loan to be agreed, the repayment timeline, or how the government plans to treat historic subsidy payments already disbursed. The finance ministry said only that it would try to account for these payments as far as possible when drafting the new arrangement.